One New Year's Eve
by TrippWire
Summary: A New Year's Eve like this had to happen eventually... ONESHOT


**Disclaimer****: Come on, if I owned the Teen Titans, would I really be sitting here writing fan fiction?**

**Rating****: T**

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_/edited: 24 July 2011_

**One New Year's Eve**

"You're lucky you have a friend like me," Raven said.

"You… you know sumfthin'? You're a b-bitch," Beast Boy mumbled as he struggled to walk down the dark hallway. The floor was being particularly uncooperative, as it kept moving out from under him whenever he tried putting a foot down.

She scowled but remained looking forward. "Yeah, well, the bitch decided that you wanted to come home," she retorted as he almost tripped over his own two feet. She was to his right, half-carrying-half-dragging him towards his room with her left arm wrapped around his middle back while the right provided support to his hips. He was slumped over horribly in his drunken state. Being his walker was hardly how she wanted to spend the evening, but that was the price for being the logical, good person that she was.

"C'mon, Rae, you know me," he reasoned, gesturing wildly at himself. "I… I can take care of myselvesss."

"Hardly," she remarked, stressing the first syllable.

His right arm began to slip from around her shoulders, but she grabbed it reflexively and put it back, squeezing it there in an attempt to encourage him to hold on. There was no way she was going to support _all_ of his weight. She would have teleported him with her powers, but with his current condition, he would have gone haywire or gotten sick.

'_If only he had drunk himself unconscious,_' she thought before mentally slapping herself. He was already drunk enough. The last thing she wanted was for him to succumb to alcohol poisoning.

'_At least he will pay for it in the morning._'

As they approached the door to his bedroom, Raven focused on the lock, unlatched it, and then slid it open with a touch of her magic. She guided him to his bed, quite ready to get away from the sour stench that saturated the air around his mouth. She sat him down on the bottom bunk and started to untie his shoes.

"It's ironic, really," she told him, although she knew he was barely capable of processing what she was saying. "After all of your begging and whining, I finally agreed to go to a New Year's Eve party."

She slid off his shoes and picked up his legs, rotating them onto the bed. She proceeded to sit on the edge of the bed next to him.

"And what ends up happening? You get smashed and I have to bring you home."

"Awwwww, we're home?" he whined loudly, his volume control obviously absent (not that he ever had it).

Raven slapped a hand to his mouth, which, unfortunately, was moist with saliva. Ignoring it, she adjusted his head so that it lay on his pillow.

"After your seven minutes in heaven with the toilet, I told Robin I'd take you home so that they wouldn't have to bear the burden of your _superb_ decision-making."

She removed her hand from his mouth, looked into his half-open eyes, and sighed. "I would've welcomed the chance to come home, but not to be your baby sitter. Why did you have to go and do this to yourself?" A disgusted shudder crept up her spine as she wiped her wet hand on his sheets.

"_Do to yourself_?" he asked in museful inebriation. He started giggling, which was interrupted by a hearty belch. "Baby, I know some things you can… _do to yourself_."

She glared at him and put her hand back to his mouth, this time squeezing his lips together. "What I would give for a chloroform rag right now…"

He fell silent for about a minute. "Woooo… Hee Ree?" he said through the muffling of her fingers, which she reasonably guessed translated to 'Whoa… Hey Rae?'

"Yes?"

"I feel dizzy."

"I bet you do," she said in a sigh, taking her hand away and folding it with the other in her lap. As irritating as he could be, she hated seeing him in this state. "And you were so excited about this New Year's Eve."

Silence encompassed them. Raven didn't know what to say. Neither did Beast Boy, but that was mainly due to his current situation. His ragged breaths were unbearable to listen to. She scanned his room in order to find something else to concentrate on. She saw that even at the age of twenty-one, he still clung to items from his earlier years. The comic book and movie posters that occupied his walls and ceiling years ago were still there, although they were worn-out and faded. There was clothing in his open closet that she hadn't seen him wear in years. And after all the torture, especially with the Beast, his bunk bed remained intact.

Raven smiled slightly, happy to see things from a somewhat simpler time, but also because apparently she wasn't the only one who hadn't replaced everything she owned.

She looked back at Beast Boy and noted how in bad of shape he really was. Even through his green skin, she could tell that he was flushing. His eyes were red and they had an empty, dazed look about them that reflected his impairment. She couldn't watch him suffer.

Looking down at her hands, she wondered if what she had in mind would work.

'_It's worth a try,_' she thought. She brought one hand to his forehead as if she was going to check for a fever, but she did not make contact. With a slow, deep inward breath, she closed her eyes and concentrated. A soft blue light emanated from her hand.

Beast Boy groaned and forced his eyes shut, but eventually he relaxed.

The light disappeared and Raven brought her hand back to her lap, waiting for any sort of response from him.

"Dude, my head hurts," he moaned, blinking his eyes groggily. His inflection was much less slurred, but he was still speaking slowly.

"Beast Boy? Do you understand me?" Raven asked softly.

"Is there a reason why I shouldn't?" he asked, his tone reflecting the awful feeling that spread throughout his body.

"You got pretty drunk. But I think I was able to relieve most of the cognitive affects. Unfortunately, my powers can't remove alcohol from your bloodstream."

"God," he said exasperatedly. "Is that why I feel so shitty? You could have at least kept me in a stupor through all of this."

Not many would have caught the almost imperceptible furrowing of her eyebrows and the downward curl of her lips that flashed across her features before giving way to blankness. Needless to say, he didn't pick up on it.

"So is the party over?" he asked as he tried to make sense of the room that spun around him.

Raven shook her head and looked out the window, stiffening her posture and her tone. "No. It's not even midnight yet. I took you home before things got worse. I was concerned."

"Really?"

"Of course. I wasn't going to stand by and watch you drink your way to the IQ of a mashed potato."

He attempted to sit up, but Raven was quick to push him back down. She didn't even look back at him.

"Don't sit up. You just need to lie still," she advised.

Beast Boy realized how much he must have drank if he couldn't recall the past few hours. He felt ashamed of himself and shook his head. "I'm sorry for putting you through this," he said, calmly now.

"Your well-being is more important than any party," she said absently. "You don't need to be sorry."

He looked up at her from his laying position and became fully aware of how close she was. Gingerly, he reached up and rested his closest hand on her shoulder. "Even if I didn't need to be sorry, which I totally do, then I at least need to be thankful."

She forced a short breath of air out of her nose, turning her head further away from him. "I thought you wanted to be in a stupor."

He finally sensed her dejection as well as a little resentment. He squeezed his hand with as much force as his intoxicated muscles would allow. "Don't mind me," he said guiltily. "I deserve to pay for my own stupid actions."

"Yes, you do."

The words were harsh on his ears, even with their lacking sensitivity.

"What were you thinking?" she admonished, finally allowing some of the emotion to show through the raising of her voice.

His headache started to worsen so he forced his eyes shut. "Raven, stop yelling, would ya?" Without a grasp on all of his wits yet, he found himself unable to come up with any argument.

"Give me an answer and maybe I'll consider it."

"Believe me; if I could think of one right now, I'd give it to you so you'd _stop yelling_."

"Asshole," she muttered.

Beast Boy grunted in frustration. However, a new feeling suddenly washed over him and quickly erased that frustration.

"Raven?"

"What?" she hissed.

"Mind taking me to the bathroom?"

She widened her eyes, already knowing his reason for asking. "Think you can handle teleportation?"

"Just make sure you put me right over the toilet."

In a flash of darkness, Beast Boy found himself kneeling on a cold tile floor. The lights turned on and he saw that he was already face to face with his porcelain savior.

Raven stood by him and looked in the opposite direction as he heaved his churning insides into the victimized toilet, handing him paper towels at his insistence.

She grabbed a washcloth from the towel rack and rinsed it with cool water in the sink. Once it was thoroughly soaked, she wrung out most of the water and placed it to Beast Boy's forehead when she was sure he had evicted all of his digestive reserves.

"That feels good," he said graciously.

Raven said nothing.

"Which bathroom are we in?" he asked in order to elicit a response from her, but more because he was having trouble gaining his bearings.

"The one right down the hall from your room," she stated simply.

He took the washcloth from her hand and wiped his face down to rid it of the unpleasantly sweaty feeling.

"I wanna try to walk back." Oddly, throwing up resulted in a somewhat satisfying feeling.

"I don't think that's a good idea," she said quickly, concern back in her voice.

"You can help me if it worries you that much," he said, hinting at a small smile.

She narrowed her eyes at him momentarily, but she helped Beast Boy to his feet. Now standing to her right, he slung his left arm over her shoulders for support.

"You know," she said monotonously as they entered the dark hallway, "I already had to do this once tonight." This time, however, she was able to turn on the lights now that she could see the switch.

He chuckled despite his still less-than-upbeat condition. "Well I'm thankful for both times."

And Raven, despite her previous frustration, stifled a laugh as she remembered something. "Actually, you called me a bitch."

Beast Boy's head dropped to his chest. "Oh. Sorry about that. You really aren't. _At all_."

The way he said it was endearing to her. "Don't worry. I tend to believe people more when alcohol isn't talking for them."

"So… am I off the hook?" he jested, feeling like a weight was lifted from his weakened shoulders.

"If you weren't, you'd know," she joked back. "Trust me on that."

If Beast Boy's physical state wasn't improving much, at least his emotional state was. "Trust you? That seems to be a sound policy."

"Sound policy?" she asked with mock surprise. "Did I really heal you that much?"

"No, I've gotten smarter. You just haven't noticed," he said. At the same instant, he almost tripped over his own two feet for the second time.

Raven arched her eyebrows. "You were saying?"

"Hey, my balance isn't really up to par right now," he defended himself.

"Whose fault is that?" she asked somewhat seriously. She felt him slow down, so she came to a stop with him.

She looked at him, but he refused to look anywhere but the floor. Grabbing his arm, she slowly guided him to the wall where he could lean back.

"I'm sorry," he apologized again.

"You still haven't given me a reason for why I have to spend my evening like this."

Beast Boy noted how serious she sounded, but also how composed she was at the same time.

"Now that I can think better, you really wanna know what I was thinking at the party?" he asked, lifting his head to finally make eye contact with her.

"Yes," she said, folding her arms and waiting intently. "I haven't known you to drink."

"Well," he started, "I wasn't thinking much obviously."

"That doesn't help me much," she said critically.

He took a second to breathe before continuing, ignoring her remark. "I should've stopped after one."

"Well Azar, you must've had quite a few," she commented.

"Pfff. No kidding," he said lowly. "I should've known four glasses is way too much for me. How could I have forgotten?" He put his hands to his temples and messaged them.

Raven focused on him on him for several seconds with a look of pure confusion. She opened her mouth to say something, but paused to think for a few more seconds.

"_Four_?" she inquired incredulously, unable to formulate a complete sentence.

He nodded.

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Really? Four?"

Cue his nervous laugh. "Yeah, I found out on my twenty-first birthday that I can't hold my liquor," he explained. "And, well, you know me. I haven't drank since then, so I sorta... forgot, heh heh."

"That wasn't even strong stuff."

He shrugged.

"So no deep-seeded reasons? You just _forgot_ how much you could handle?"

He simply shrugged again and looked off to the side. "Pretty much. I mean, I wanted to get buzzed, but not entirely knocked out," he confided.

"That would explain why you didn't get too defensive about it." Raven felt silly and shook her head. "Apparently I don't know you as well as I thought I did."

Beast Boy smiled. "Now you do. Keep an eye on me next time, just in case?" he asked.

"_If_ there is a next time," she replied.

They stood there in the hallway for a brief moment before Beast Boy said, "Still mind helping me back to my room?"

Without a word, Raven took a hold of him again and they headed down the hall. Beast Boy still wasn't having much luck with his balance.

"Ughhh," he grumbled. "Do you have any idea what it's like to be physically drunk, but not mentally?"

Raven shook her head. "Can't say that I do."

"Well it sucks ass."

"Like I said before, I can't stop the alcohol from chemically interacting with your body," she reminded him emphatically.

"Yeah yeah, keep making excuses," he chided her nonetheless.

They trudged along gradually until they reached the doorway to his room. Beast Boy, still holding onto Raven, decided to go through first, so he took a slow step forward. Raven, however, was just noticing the time on the alarm clock sitting on the nightstand by his bed. Unconsciously, she continued to walk as Beast Boy did. She placed her foot down right in front of his trailing leg just as he was about to bring it forward. He knocked Raven's foot right out from under her and she proceeded to fall forward. Beast Boy's already less-than-adequate balance caused him to fall with her, but he instinctively turned around to avoid falling on his face. He saw a pair of hands the instant before he impacted the floor and closed his eyes preemptively. With a hard thud, he hit the floor, but felt no pain on the front of his face. He tentatively opened his eyes and looked around to see that the hands were on either side of him. He froze as he realized what that meant. His eyes ratcheted up, only to see an equally as shocked pair of violet eyes a few inches away staring right back at him. Locks of similarly colored hair grazed his cheeks. Coming to his senses, or what he had of them, he avoided Raven's gaze and noticed the alarm clock above and behind him that read "12:00". However, this took a moment to decipher as he was reading it upside down.

Raven was in a momentary paralysis. She watched Beast Boy's look of shock transform into a sheepish, toothy grin.

"Do I get a New Year's kiss?"

She blinked at him before glaring. "Not on your life."

The room was dark and they could see pulsing light on the sides of each other's faces. They turned in the direction of the light and saw fireworks bursting in the sky outside the window.

They looked at each other again for a split second, but Raven awkwardly moved herself off him when she realized that the entire fronts of their bodies were touching. She got the feeling he came to the same realization when he looked down the length of their bodies.

She helped him up and guided him to his bed silently. Once he was lying down, she stepped back and crossed her arms protectively.

"Well then," Beast Boy said.

"Happy New Year?" Raven supplied weakly.

He looked at Raven blankly for a second, surprised by her response, but then grinned, his eyes glowing. "Happy New Year to you too."

This made her relax and she dropped her shoulders.

He laughed a little, bringing his hands to his face. "God, I hope we never have a night this awful again."

Raven smiled faintly. "It wasn't all bad."

"Yeah, I had a valet all night."

"I got to know my friend a little better," she said admittedly.

"Me too," he confided.

"Oh? How so?" she asked innocently, though she was curious.

He grew serious, but sincere. "I learned that I have someone who cares enough about me to support me through my worst mistakes. It means a lot. Thanks, Raven."

She then finally dropped her arms to her side and sighed, still smiling.

He carefully watched her as she approached his bedside. She grabbed the wood frame of the upper bunk and leaned down to him.

"Maybe you do deserve a New Year's kiss," she said, then planted a brief, feathery kiss on his cheek that caused them to heat up immensely.

Just as he registered what had happened, he heard Raven say, "You're welcome." He swiveled his head over to see her step out of his room and close the door behind her.

'_Just to think,_" he pondered idly, '_what you would've missed if you had remembered your limits._'

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**A/N's****:**

That sort of thing can happen between friends, right? …riiiight?

Happy New Year again!

_24 July 2011:_ It's been a year since I've written anything new, yet I keep coming back to make changes to my stories. Again, nothing too noticeable, but hopefully makes a difference.


End file.
